Terry Crabtree
In the early morning hours last Sunday our good friend the Honorable Terry Crabtree passed away. Terry had served in Viet Nam and the Los Angeles Police Department before returning to his Grandfather’s Farm in Northwest Arkansas.
He became a lawyer, then elected to the position of Circuit/Chancery Judge over the Juvenile Courts in Benton and Carroll County. That is where we met in early 1993. Someone had told Terry I recently moved to the area and started a nonprofit organization. I knew a little about child abuse, poverty and dysfunctional families.
The original purpose of the Merlin Foundation was to build a retreat center for family members who had lost a child. A place to take some time alone and with others who, the wicked hand of fate, had cast into the same river of loss and confusion. A place of beauty, organic food, woods and streams. A place that Anita and I felt would by its very nature reconnect each of them with a beautiful force greater than themselves to reinstall that lost sense of hope.
Well we had the property, moved to a rented house in a nearby city and started construction on the main house, library, main meeting room, roads, a bridge and a large greenhouse. It was then that fate put Terry and I together.
Judge Crabtree had word given to me that he would like to visit over in his Bentonville office. I went and when I left I carried a new mission for the Foundation back to Anita. Terry gave me a letter telling of the abnormally high rate of child abuse and the growth rate of 25% every year in this beautiful rural area. Our Board got together and decided on a course to help this man and the children and families of the area. We would finish the buildings we started at the Center and then help this caring Judge for a couple of years. By the end of 1994 we had established a CASA program and a Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Team.
That two to three year commitment has stretched out to over 14 years now. Terry moved up to the Arkansas Court of Appeals in 1996 and remained there until his passing last week. He had just been reelected.
The Foundation has evolved to meet the needs of the area and grown into a full-time effort. Child Abuse case rates have stopped their rapid growth and are decreasing. The Child Abuse Team meets like old friends on each case, not always agreeing, but always looking out for the best interest of the child and the family.
When I received the call of Terry’s passing it was like someone taking a piece of my heart, a large chunk of hope and a reality shock beyond belief leaving me numb for this past week. I came to the realization the true founder of the Merlin Foundation was gone. My young friend, only 55 years old, wouldn’t be there any more with encouragement and support. I feel today just one week to the day from receiving the news that I need a place to escape for a while. A place like the original center to reflect and find that magnificent source of beauty and hope that keeps our human spirit going after a great personal loss.
Terry our friend, we’ll never forget your love for others and the hope you have given those of us working in the back roads and streets of poverty and abuse to make a difference in a child’s life. You made a difference in ours.
He became a lawyer, then elected to the position of Circuit/Chancery Judge over the Juvenile Courts in Benton and Carroll County. That is where we met in early 1993. Someone had told Terry I recently moved to the area and started a nonprofit organization. I knew a little about child abuse, poverty and dysfunctional families.
The original purpose of the Merlin Foundation was to build a retreat center for family members who had lost a child. A place to take some time alone and with others who, the wicked hand of fate, had cast into the same river of loss and confusion. A place of beauty, organic food, woods and streams. A place that Anita and I felt would by its very nature reconnect each of them with a beautiful force greater than themselves to reinstall that lost sense of hope.
Well we had the property, moved to a rented house in a nearby city and started construction on the main house, library, main meeting room, roads, a bridge and a large greenhouse. It was then that fate put Terry and I together.
Judge Crabtree had word given to me that he would like to visit over in his Bentonville office. I went and when I left I carried a new mission for the Foundation back to Anita. Terry gave me a letter telling of the abnormally high rate of child abuse and the growth rate of 25% every year in this beautiful rural area. Our Board got together and decided on a course to help this man and the children and families of the area. We would finish the buildings we started at the Center and then help this caring Judge for a couple of years. By the end of 1994 we had established a CASA program and a Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Team.
That two to three year commitment has stretched out to over 14 years now. Terry moved up to the Arkansas Court of Appeals in 1996 and remained there until his passing last week. He had just been reelected.
The Foundation has evolved to meet the needs of the area and grown into a full-time effort. Child Abuse case rates have stopped their rapid growth and are decreasing. The Child Abuse Team meets like old friends on each case, not always agreeing, but always looking out for the best interest of the child and the family.
When I received the call of Terry’s passing it was like someone taking a piece of my heart, a large chunk of hope and a reality shock beyond belief leaving me numb for this past week. I came to the realization the true founder of the Merlin Foundation was gone. My young friend, only 55 years old, wouldn’t be there any more with encouragement and support. I feel today just one week to the day from receiving the news that I need a place to escape for a while. A place like the original center to reflect and find that magnificent source of beauty and hope that keeps our human spirit going after a great personal loss.
Terry our friend, we’ll never forget your love for others and the hope you have given those of us working in the back roads and streets of poverty and abuse to make a difference in a child’s life. You made a difference in ours.
posted by The Merlin Foundation | 10:27 AM
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